Reunion
by xxredemption-love-and-liesxx
Summary: "S... Sara... da? W... Why are you... here?" / [implied SS] [one-shot]


**Reunion  
** xxredemption-love-and-liesxx

.

.

 _oneshot  
_ T

.

. 

It was hard following the second fastest man in the history of shinobi, but somehow, both of the (not even genin) shinobi kept up. He darted in a way that made the young Uchiha heiress believe that whatever it was that the seventh was trying to do was important. As he continued travelling, he seemingly stopped, making both the Akmichi and Uchiha children stop and hide; masking their chakra effortlessly.

He looked around before doing a tiger hand sign and closing his eyes, orange markings covering his eyes. Reopening them, his actual eyes were now a golden colour with a horizontal line through the centre. Looking around for a moment before he frowned and sighed.

"Sarada, ChouChou," he said softly, his voice kind as always. "Come out," his eyebrow ticked as his frown returned. "And you too, Boruto."

 _Boruto_? The raven-haired girl thought before emerging from her hiding spot; behind some tree.

She held her hands behind her back, clasping them as ChouChou followed in a sheepish fashion. "Hey, uh, Hokage-sama," the Akimichi murmured with a small smile. "We were… just taking a walk, hey, Sarada?"

"Idiot," Sarada muttered under her breath, but made no move to follow with her story.

Boruto came out a few seconds later, coughing and wheezing. "Damn, Jiji-san! You're quick for an old man!"

The seventh hokage looked _really_ annoyed and glared over at his son. "All of you, why are you here?"

"I'm on a mission to find my _real_ parents!" ChouChou shouted, a little too loudly for everyone's liking.

Naruto gave her a blank look, before chuckling softly. "Really? Well, they're in Konoha."

ChouChou shook her head right away. "Nah, there's no way in _hell_ those guys are _my_ parents! There's just no way! We look different—" everyone just looked at her as if she was crazy. "—and we act different! No way in hell am I related to them."

The Uzumaki rolled his golden eyes as the sage markings disappeared, revealing blue once more. He sighed heavily and shook his head, his attention falling onto his son.

"And you?"

Boruto crossed his arms over his chest and looked away, a pout marring his features. "Well, Jiji-san… I'm on a top secret mission that you _don't_ need to know anything about."

"Does your mother know you're here?" Naruto asked, crouching down so he was at the same height as his child. "I don't think she'll be too happy if you've snuck out of the village to follow me—or the girls."

As those words were said, the tanned child became an icy white colour as he blanched openly and sputtered out something that was unable to be understood by the others. His cerulean eyes were on the ground as he made up excuses and _reasons_ as to why he was here, all of which made no sense to any of the people listening to his mindless babble.

As everyone knew, the kind-hearted Hyuuga head was actually a terrifying woman when she was angry. Of course, this behaviour was rarely shown unless she was _really_ upset or angry. And, Naruto knows himself, having been on the opposite end of her anger. Though, it was quite surprising to see his wife become an entirely different person when she was furious. Also, very amusing.

Naruto's clear eyes fell onto the last member of the three children who had _escaped_ from the Hidden Leaf. "And Sarada, what are you doing out here? Or are you just with ChouChou—though, bad behaviour isn't really your thing…"

" _Hey_!" came the obviously offended cry of the Akimichi heiress. "That's—"

Sarada shot her friend a glare before her eyes returned to the blond hokage. "What does it matter? We both have the same goals; to see my father."

"You heard," Naruto said, looking rather surprised. "I'm pretty astounded that you'd follow though."

The Uchiha heiress growled (a habit that she picked up from her father it seemed). "Normally, I couldn't care less for what _that man_ is doing. The only reason I'm even following is because I wish to know _who_ I am."

"Who you are?" the seventh said, scratching the back of his head in obvious confusion. "Whatcha mean by that, Sarada?"

Sarada gave another glower to the hokage. "It doesn't matter. My questions aren't for you."

Naruto sighed, allowing himself to stand up once more as he seemed to ponder on his thoughts before looking at the three children, seemingly having come up with a solution to this whole dilemma. But Sarada could not help but hear the hokage mutter out words like "Sakura-chan's gonna kill me." "I may as well return home dead." "So many people are gonna be after me."

The last one that Sarada picked up, however, was one that caught her attention most "Sasuke's so going to be upset…"

Boruto looked impatient as ever. "So what's it gonna be, Jiji-san? You gonna waste your time and take us back, or ya gonna let us come with?"

Naruto shook his head, seemingly wiping away his thoughts. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. You guys better listen to me, though. What I'm doing is gonna be frowned upon when I get back. But…" the Uzumaki glanced over to Sarada. "I really don't have enough time to take you guys back… and even with a clone… yeah, I don't trust that. You're all very, very well-known and all _wanted_ targets."

"And also," Naruto continued. "It's about time that you met your father, Sarada."

Surprise flitted across the young girl's face as she stared at the Seventh. "D… Demo—"

"You're wanting to ask him questions, right?" Naruto asked, turning on his heel, and beckoning for the three to follow him. "It's natural to want to know more about your parents, and Sasuke _has_ been gone for far too long, but believe me, Sarada, he has a _good_ reason for his absence."

Sarada made no response, instead feeling her need to ask questions to her father boil up. She wanted to meet him and ask him about her parentage, and also… about why he abandoned her and her mother (that is, if her mother is _actually_ her mother).

.

.

Naruto moved a lot slower through the foliage again, saying that he would prefer not to accidently leave behind the three children. Sarada did not talk for the rest of the way, while Boruto and ChouChou were talking about why _they_ were out here.

"Well, I was bored!" Boruto said loudly, rolling his eyes. "As if you haven't been bored before, fatty."

ChouChou glared at him for the insult. "Don't call me fatty, midget," she smirked in victory when the blond boy looked extremely offended. "So what if you're bored! Go and spray paint the hokage's ornaments for the twentieth time this month. There you go, you're no longer bored."

"Pff," the Uzumaki boy looked away. "Whatever, _ChouChou_. But how can you of all people be out here lookin' for your parents? That makes like, no damn sense!"

The blond-haired Akimichi snorted. "As if you'd understand, Boruto! You look _exactly_ like your dad! And hell, you apparently act like him. But I am _nothing_ like my parents. I don't look like my mother or father."

"Baka," Sarada snapped, having had enough of their stupid conversations. "Urusai."

Both ChouChou and Boruto looked at each-other before frowning. "Stop being so up yourself, Sarada!" Boruto snarled right back. "You're just actin' like you're in charge 'cos you're an Uchiha. Pff, what are the Uchiha even worth these days—ttbasa?"

Sarada growled, turning around rapidly, only to be stopped by the orange hokage( **1** ). "Enough, Boruto. You have no right to question _that_."

The Uchiha heiress turned her head, scowling. "Coming from the guy complaining when his dad's never around, and always, always wanting attention."

"Oh, yeah?" Boruto growled angrily. "What about how you haven't even met _your_ dad! He probably just left you and your mother 'cos he hates you guys!"

Sarada felt her heart stop at those words. She wanted nothing more to fight that it was not true; but she had no ground to stand upon. She has never known her own father, and even her mother did not seem to _know much_.

With the words Boruto had said, Naruto darted back to his son and knocked his fist across the boy's head with slightly more force than usual. In response, Boruto let out a whimpery whine as he looked up at his father as if _he_ had done nothing wrong.

Naruto drew back his fist and crossed his arms over his chest. "You don't know Sasuke yourself, Boruto. Trust me, he cares for Sarada and his _wife_. Like I said before, he never abandoned them in the way that you all seem to think."

And with those final words, the small group continued on without saying another word, but Sarada was unable to extinguish the doubt making its way into her heart.

.

.

His lone dark eye narrowed as he felt the familiar chakra of his best-friend, as well as three other chakras he could not identify. One of the three felt familiar to him, but he could not place his finger upon who it was. Allowing his own chakra to span out, he relaxed slightly as he found his wife's chakra in Konoha; it seemed that she were resting, but it made him calm down, even if it were slightly.

Like everyone else, he had not seen Naruto for twelve years. It had been nine years since he had left Konoha for the third time, but it had been different then. He had a three year old child then; one whom had her eyes taken from her—forcibly—from some enemy. He had given his old eyes; the ones that he had used to kill his own brother; to his daughter. Of course, repairs had to be made to his original eyes, and his wife had done an excellent job with that.

But there were dangerous things that came to his old eyes.

One such example is that, on multiple occasions, he had seen the mangekyou's design appear at random times. He wondered if it was because his child's chakra had been so well developed at that time, but he brushed that off at the mere _stupidity_ of such a thing. Another example is that Sakura has to _constantly_ re-heal the eyes, leaving her exhausted. The simple reason for the regular healing was that, while the eyes had been repaired, they slowly started to degenerate back to their deathly grey state, and that was something that frightened Sasuke.

The whole point of him giving his daughter his eyes was so that she could _see_ after her own eyes had been taken. But no, his old eyes still held their curse. The curse of blindness. Hence why Sasuke left to find Obito's own collection of sharingan eyes, and if he was lucky, he could find whomever took Sarada's eyes to begin with. But, there was a high chance of the perpetrator not being found.

When Sasuke fought against the child with the sharingan eyes, it had shocked him into oblivion. His first thought was that there was another Uchiha, but he brushed that off as he and his daughter were the _only_ people with Uchiha blood running through their veins. But it was such an odd thing; non-Uchiha would have a hard time controlling one eye, nonetheless two. So, Sasuke was confused as to how the unknown child had been able to use both eyes, including the fact that the both of them were fully developed.

While Sasuke doubted there was another Uchiha, it was quite likely that whomever this child was, he was sure to be an experiment of his old teacher; Orochimaru. The Uchiha patriarch was positive that Naruto had already found this piece of information, and that made things less difficult; he would not have to explain everything.

The man was taken from his thoughts when he felt the four chakra signatures very close to the location where he was resting at. He was sitting in a tree, his back laid against the trunk as he watched for everything. While he was still in the Land of Fire, he had noted that there was not as much forestation as he had expected. A lot of the layout was really swamp or rivers with dangerous banks; even cliffs. The forestation was more around the village, hence why it was called the Hidden Leaf village.

As he saw the seventh, he landed right in front of him, unsheathing his katana. Kunai and katana met as the two men stared each-other down. Sasuke felt his sharingan activate in his visible eye as he did hand signs whilst holding the kusanagi, and allowing the lightning to discharge from his finger tips. But the other man had stopped this; wind darting past them, and even slicing a few strands of the Uchiha's hair.

"Dobe."

"Teme."

The two allowed their arms to relax as they pulled their weapons away, sliding them back into their holsters, where they belong. The two looked at each-other, and Sasuke could feel that the three others were behind Naruto.

"I didn't expect you to attack me like that, teme," Naruto said casually, allowing a grin to break out on his face. "Once we've done all this, we're going to spar."

Sasuke snorted, rolling his lone eye, but allowing a small smirk to grace his lips. "Once a dobe, always a dobe, huh?"

The orange hokage chuckled before a stern look fell onto his features. "As to what we're doing, I guess you've done some thought on the kid with the sharingan?"

"Ah," Sasuke nodded his head once. "Him being Orochimaru's experiment is all I can think of. No normal shinobi, who does not have Uchiha blood, would be able to handle two sharingan eyes. We saw this in Kakashi, as well."

"Yeah," Naruto agreed. "I thought about that too."

The Uchiha frowned lightly. "There are three chakra signatures with you."

"I know," Naruto sighed heavily. "Boruto and ChouChou."

Sasuke knew those names; Boruto was Naruto's own child, and ChouChou was the heiress of the Akimichi clan. Other than that, he knew nothing about the two of them. However, it seemed that Naruto had missed one.

"And the other?"

"Yeah… about that," Naruto stepped aside, revealing three children.

Sasuke was sure the blond child was Boruto; two stripes were on each cheek, fluffy blond hair, and clear blue eyes. Definitely Naruto's son. The female, that he was sure was an Akimichi, was a dark-skinned, blond-haired child with a seemingly playful complexion. The other…

The Uchiha allowed his eyes to widen in shock as he beckoned for the third child to come to him, but she refused, shaking her head automatically. In response, Sasuke crouched down and looked her over, noting that the child looked a lot like a certain pink-haired woman in Konoha, but had dark features instead. Her eyes were sharp; a dangerous glare and a blank look on her face.

 _His_ features.

"S… Sara… da…?" Sasuke said, unable to wrap his mouth around his own daughter's _name_. "Why… are you—" he swallowed heavily, having not been ready to meet her—not right now. "—here?"

The Uzumaki child watched on, rather surprised to see that the bastard father who had not even _seen_ his daughter for how many years _recognised_ her. It was a surprising thing, but he made no comment, and felt a little bad for his remark before.

"You're… Papa, right?" Sarada asked, stepping forward, albeit shyly.

"A… Ah," Sasuke nodded his head. "… Why are you here?" he repeated once more, no longer seeming as hesitant.

Sarada looked down. "I wanted to ask you about something…"

The Uchiha gave a heavy breath, wondering what it was that the child wished to know. However, he made no move to get closer, and instead allowed her to look at him. It was the first time, in a long time, that she had seen him in person, after all. Sasuke felt rather, odd. His daughter looked _so much_ like her mother. It made his heart hurt, as he had not seen _her_ in such a long time either. Every day, he missed his wife—his love; his _life_.

"What is it?" he asked softly, allowing her to know it was fine to ask what she wanted.

Sarada reached into her clothing, and pulled out a folded piece of paper and silently handed it to her father. He looked puzzled, but did not ask. Unfolding the paper, he was met with an _ancient_ photo of himself with two of the members of Taka; Karin and Suigetsu.

However, he did not understand where a question would come from.

Other than…

"These people were a part of an old team I used to be in charge of," Sasuke answered, frowning a little. "Taka."

Sarada shook her head. "That's not what I'm asking."

"Then…?"

"The onna; who is she to me?"

"Uh yeah," Naruto murmured softly. "We should… uh, come on—ChouChou, Boruto."

As they left, Sarada took the time to notice the flabbergasted expression on her father's face. However, she did not care. She wanted to know. He was sure to know. Her mother would not answer something like that, Sarada was sure.

Sasuke shook his head, handing back the photograph. "What kind of question is that?"

Both of the Uchihas stared heatedly at one-another, before Sarada finally spoke. "Is _she_ my mother? My _real_ mother. Obviously, you don't wear glasses… so that has to be—"

"Are you foolish?" Sasuke interjected, unable to stop himself from saying it in a very, very rude tone. He was done. He could not believe that his own child was doubting her parentage; especially when it came to her mother!

Sarada stopped and glanced at her father, and realized that he was glaring at her in an angry way. He looked _very_ angry. Furious, perhaps. He shook his head, standing upright.

"What," Sasuke said lowly. "you're doubting Sakura being your mother because you wear _glasses_?"

"Nani?" Sarada gasped. "What are you—"

The Uchiha patriarch crossed his arms over his chest. "I _know_ that Sakura is your mother. But you… you're doubting it what—because you wear glasses?"

"Yeah, but it's—"

"It's _not_ understandable. You look _exactly_ like Sakura. _Exactly_ ," Sasuke said, his words becoming soft when he was talking about his wife. "What would Sakura think if you were speaking like this? Not good things, I suppose."

Sarada looked down, feeling rather ashamed. "Then _why_ do I have glasses? Mama doesn't wear them either…"

Sasuke swallowed, hesitating slightly. "… Something happened when you were just born, requiring you to wear glasses, Sarada."

"Is that… why my birth records aren't in Konoha?" Sarada asked gently. "Something… whatever happened, has to do with that?"

"Yeah," was the only response she got from him.

Sarada looked down. "What happened?"

"No," came the instant reply. " _No_."

The heiress looked at her father; he looked shaken and spooked. Something _had_ happened, then. Sarada closed her eyes, whatever it was, was enough to get someone like him react like that. Obviously, it was something that had scarred him. Perhaps, even her mother had the same fate.

Sarada stayed silent, and looked to the side.

"Is that all you wished to know, Sarada?" Sasuke asked, feeling himself calm down.

"Yeah," the Uchiha heiress said, nodding her head. "No… actually…"

"Hn?"

"Why… Why were you… gone for _so long_? Why are you _still_ gone? Mama cries every night, and I know it's because of _you_. _Why_ did you abandon us?" Sarada asked those questions, not knowing how much they affected her father.

However, the only answer she was provide with was, "For the both of you; I left for the both of you. Your mother is upset, yes, but… if it's to keep the both of you safe, then fine. And if it's to help _you_ … I will stay away."

Sarada did not know how to deal with what he had just said to her.

.

 _fin_

.

( **1** )—Yeah, I like the idea of him being called that.

.

.

Phew, I didn't like this very much. I liked the start, but the end was so… _sloppy_. Either way, it doesn't really matter, does it? Of course, this was written for Gaiden 2 and yeah, it does involve my (current) theory as to why Sasuke is gone. But I think there might be more to it, but I have no clue what's going on in that Uchiha's (brat's) head. So yes.

Also, I hope Sakura isn't going to be knocked out for the whole length of the series, I'll be pretty upset. But either way, it's not my writing, I suppose. Though, I know this will end happily, as it isn't Kishi's style (with this manga at least) _not_ to have a happy ending.


End file.
